Construction of the Gendered Household

Through the comparable worth theory, I evaluate various paid wages for domestic labour across the Canadian provinces, using the recent General Social Survey (2015), Labour Force Statistics (2017/2018), and Statistics Canada’s Time Use data to determine an economic value, represented through an hourly wage, for unpaid domestic labour. I am extrapolating a nuanced view which extends academia on the relation of domesticated forms of labour and gender—specifically, how this labour is inherently devalued as a structural component of the economic system. Within the structures of capitalism, such cheap labour remains devalued and informal, meaning unrecognized and invisible in both the market and social setting. I discuss these findings and the limitations of current theoretical tools in evaluating unpaid domestic labour, including structural limitations in their application. Such limitations reveal the shortcomings of Marx’s labour theory for informal economic transactions and beg a re-envisioning of alternative labour theories.

This research is written to address the problem of devalued and invisible labour, which not only women of low income status experience. It addresses a vital aspect of the economic and social inequalities in Canada, which we cannot overcome unless we reevaluate how we measure economic inequality. That is why this research asks: What is the economic value of unpaid domestic labour in Canada? Is this labour devalued? It questions the systematic role of determining the economic value of labour, and whether wages for paid domestic labour are devalued due to its roots in domesticated environments.

Wage of unpaid domestic labour across Canada

Unemployment rates for women in BC during COVID-19

Defining housework

Liveable wage vs. calculated wage by province

RESEARCHER
Freshta Ahmadzai

SFU AFFILIATION
Alumnus, Department of Political Science

AREAS OF RESEARCH
Unpaid domestic labour, comparable worth theory, labour theory, informal economy, gendered households, Maria Mies